C-SPAN will come to St. Paul to capture the city's historical and literary roots for the network's 2014 Cities Tour.

The network is visiting 24 cities this year to feature their literary history, and Mark Farkas, executive producer of C-SPAN specials, said St. Paul "sort of jumps out at you."

"There's a really vibrant literary community here," Farkas said.

C-SPAN staffers this week are interviewing local historians, authors and civic leaders and visiting local landmarks.

The segments are not typical C-SPAN programming, Farkas said. The nonprofit cable television network typically airs government proceedings. It is available in more than 100 million households.

"Normally, we do event coverage, but with this, we're hoping to take people to St. Paul," he said.

Among the features planned are segments on F. Scott Fitzgerald, the St. Paul native who wrote "The Great Gatsby;" and Paul Maccabee's book "John Dillinger Slept Here: A Crooks' Tour of Crime and Corruption in St. Paul."

St. Paul Mayor Chris Coleman said it was an honor for the city to be chosen by the network.

"We always love to tell St. Paul's story to national audiences," he said.

Kao Kalia Yang, author of "The Late Homecomer: A Hmong Family Memoir," will be one of the writers interviewed. Yang is a Hmong-American writer who said she is excited to share the Hmong story and show that Hmong are Americans, too.

The segments will air during C-SPAN's special St. Paul weekend Sept. 20-21.

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Other cities being featured this year include Green Bay and Madison, Wis.; St. Louis; Des Moines, Iowa; and Waco, Texas.